What Do You Think Of The Wii U?

Well, I'm sure you've spent the last hour traipsing through our extensive Wii U coverage, digesting what is an interesting move forward by Nintendo. Now I'm keen to know - what do you guys think of Nintendo's new console/device?

If I had to sum up my feelings quickly, I would say that, first off, I'm surprised I am not surprised by a Nintendo console. This is basically a tablet as controller stretched to its logical conclusion - which is what was predicted by plenty of people.

I'm not sure whether or not I like it or not - I'd like to hold one in my hands personally before making that decision, but I would like to have seen something more concrete in terms of games for the console.

That said - I can't wait for Nintendo games to be on the cutting edge again.

I thought the same.. but Kotaku US and Engadget have gone hands on (as well as IGN) and so far they are all surprised at how comfortable it is and how light..

Although they do admit that it doesnt have a battery pack in these ones which would make it lighter, everyone so far seems really impressed with the quality and weight. I was pretty worried about those 2 things.

"To be honest, I’m a LITTLE disappointed. I thought for sure that they’d be ditching the Wii branding (not that I didn’t like the Wii), but I suppose then it wouldn’t really have made sense using Wii controllers with the new console. (Though they could have always released re-branded Wiimotes or something).

I think the tablet controller is interesting and I’ll be looking forward to hearing more about it. I’m sure it will be comfortable enough.

I just think that this console is going to have an uphill battle reclaiming “hardcore” people (the people that lash out at the first mention of Nintendo) because of the Wii brand."

Also, I'd like to add that I can't wait to hear about some more games for this thing. Personally, I think a HD Pokemon Snap would be amazing with this hardware (and long overdue, imo)!

I like the concept, but I want to see some better third party titles, as well as some regular shaped controllers for the new console... the new console does have 360/PS3 equivelant or higher graphics right?... I can only really find info on the new tablet/controller.

I won't make the mistake again of buying this as a casual gaming machine, I don't play games casually. And if you're going to release a new Zelda game, record some fraking dialogue for it, I want to feel immersed watching cut scenes, not spend cutscenes reading text and pressing next, if I wanted to do that I'd read a book.

The controller featuring “the tilting, turning and shaking motion controls that made the Wii a smash success” doesn’t really seem to matter, when they've destroyed the unobtrusiveness and ease of use of just gripping a small remote to make motion gestures with and replaced it with a giant tablet.

Overall, it seems like an interesting idea, but I wonder just how useful the touchscreen will be seeing as you have to divert your focus to it. Odds are it won't be very well used for the majority of games, just like the Wiimote's waggling. Still, the DS had a few games manage to do wonderful things with its touch screen, so all hope is not lost.

I'm also a little worried that the next Xbox and PS3 are just going to completely blow this out of the water tech wise. Not a huge issue for the market that Nintendo is going for, but when there are "hardcore" gamers bitching about consoles holding back gaming development, this might end up being another example they use. Not something that is really an issue, but them PC master race peoples can get quite irritating.

Having the second screen is a huge plus imo. I hate being restricted to one screen on anything when I game. If there is a map or inventory or something that can appear on a second screen then give me that screen!

I also like the idea that it seems for some of the titles you can play it just on the controller. Cool little bonus.

All in all, rather than jump on the "it's different so I instantly hate it" bandwagon, I'll just wait and see what other information comes out about it.

Truly bizarre. Like who was actually asking for a controller that's basically an iPad?

I fear Nintendo will not support this thing in the long term. A few Wii-Sports type games like that golf tech demo we saw and then loads of shovelware. Carnival Games, Game Party 16 etc.

As far as the third party games go, even if they are EXACTLY the same visual quality and fidelity as PS3/360 then...what controller would you rather hold? You wanna play Battlefield with that thing?

I'm totally confused by the whole thing. Why just show the controller and not even MENTION the console itself? Huh?

And they mentioned several times that the controller is perfect for those times when you're playing a game and someone wants to use the television. Is that really such a widespread problem? Enough to make it a selling point?

I'm totally the market for it. That's what they're shooting for this time. A mix of the two. Reggie said it himself.

Just to be clear, if they come with the games, THE UNIQUE GAMES THAT CAN ONLY BE PLAYED ON THE WII U, then I'll buy the hell out of it. I'm just completely unsure as to what those games would be. Discount the third-party games and the backgammon/golf/ninja stars tech demos, and what have I got? Gimme something Nintendo. I wanna give you money.

I love Nintendo but feel pretty disapointed with their whole presentation.

They have showed Wii U way too early.

Not even a single first party game is disapointing.

The controller is a slightly different layout to the one developers have been shown in recent months, which leads me back to the same conlclusion -showing off way too early.

Perhaps that's why they didn't really show pics of the console itself -instead of a cute little Wii, it currently looks like a prototype 360 (which is ironic, as it's pretty close to one by all accounts on the inside).

Wii U -don't like the name. But I guess that's not important.

The Controller -meh. Looks ugly, too big, too heavy. But since I aint holding one, and people who have held it say otherwise, I will reserve judgement till next year when I can.

Online -perhaps the most shocking thing for me regarding Wii U is that they didn't mention the word online at all in the entire presentation. Considering how important the online shops and online services are becoming to gamers, and given Nintendo's shocking support of these, I was totaly dumfounded they didn't have anything to say on this.

Apart from Wii U, I didn't see anything NEW for Wii or 3DS at all. What's going on!?

I'm really interested to see what hardcore gaming developers can do with the controller. That was where the Wii disappointed me, putting motion controls in games always felt like a useless tacked on gimmick in third party games. But a second screen has the potiental to add to gameplay without interfering with it.

To be honest though, I'm much more excited for a HD Nintendo console than anything the controller brings.

I suspect Sony & Microsft will announce their consoles at next years E3 for launch in 2013.

That's only a 12 month window for Nintendo in which they have to really tempt us all away from our current gen machines -but with what? They have no games!!??

The next Sony & Microsoft consoles will be slightly more powerful, will be perceived rightly or wrongly as "much more powerful and proper next gen hardcore gamers machines", will almost certainly have far greater 3rd party support from day 1, and will undoubtedly have excellent online stores and services from day 1.

I think it's a question of: Can Nintendo have Zelda and/or Mario ready by launch next year, and are large amounts of people willing to buy the console pretty much just for that?

It sadly looks like it could be a really, really, really slow trickle of 1st party games, given whats happened so far with 3DS, and the complete lack of game demos for Wii U.

The controller looks uncomfortable as hell, and the hardware just seems...too little, too late. In a couple of years there'll most likely be a new Xbox &/or Playstation and Nintendo will be last in the specs again with the poor third party support that entails.

That's just my opinion, so whether it pans out is anyone's guess. It's important to remember though that with gaming - history means shit. Just because the Wii was top dog this gen doesn't mean lightning will strike twice (people generally thought the success of the PS2 would mean the PS3 would be #1, and before that, the N64 would follow on from the SNES and crush the PS1).

I'm really excited for it. The controller rumours threw me off a bit to begin with, didn't know if its a good thing or not but once they showed it, I was impressed by it. Got me thinking about what could be done with it and what creative possibilities have been opened up. HD graphics and some hardcore titles make me happy too but all in all I'm pumped and can't wait for it.

Too little too late, my ps3 and xbox can do the same and better, and the gametrailers guy mentioned that you could do the same with hooking up a playstation vita with a ps3... So it's a no from me, although I did like their 3rd party line up, when Lego city came up I thought, "there it is, nintendo screwing over the hardcore" but then they announced things like batman coming on it... Well played nintendo, but anyway, ps vita for me thank you

This is what I immediately thought of - surely if I want PS3 quality graphics and games with an integrated touch screen controller I'll just use my PS3 and my (hypothetical) PSVita, or my tablet/phone for that matter.

It's not going to be hard for PS3 (maybe slightly more of a stretch for 360) to negate the point of difference here.

- Button and stick placement looks silly, the gamecube-ish layout with the right stick underneath the buttons seems like it would make more sense. Plus slide pads instead of analogue sticks? The slide pad makes sense for the portability on the 3DS but this thing won't be leaving the home and should have real sticks.

- Only one tablet controller per console. So if you have a friend over and want to play VS Tekken, do you get the fancy controller with all the buttons and (presumably) special move shortcuts on the touchscreen while your friend has to have limited buttons on a remote/nunchuck or use a classic controller?

- Doesn't upscale original Wii games. Oh come on, I can get a free emulator on the net that can do that, as well as Gamecube games. Why can't the official thing do it?

- Where's the games? The fact that they haven't shown any real ones indicates that the launch next year might be like the 3DS one where there was barely anything decent available. I hope I'm wrong there.

I knew I was headed for disappointment, that's nintendo's thing these days. Like usual I'll get a Nintendo console for the Mario and Zelda games and have the other consoles for the majority of my gaming collection.

I'm sure it will all seem better once we know more information though.

i just hope they do a bit of a re-design before its release....the console itself is pretty ugly and the controller could use a touchup as well....mainly in the type of plastic used. just looks a bit cheap to me.

I'm pretty disappointed, but not surprised.
I remember feeling shocked and excited when the wii was first announced and I saw the wiimote in action. Nintendo was at the top of its game and it was taking a big risk with motion control, doing something no one had done sucessfully on a large scale before. Sony and Microsoft soon followed suit, just like they had soon after Nintendo perfected the analogue stick.

Now all I see is Nintendo following suit, attempting to copy features that other companies have perfected. I feel it's lost its edge and it's direction... Very few new IPs... nothing we havent already got in some shape or form already.
I dont doubt that the wii-u has a chance, but I think it's trying to be everything to everyone, and that's gonna be tough to pull off.
Excuse the lengthy rant. I rarely comment on here but I've always loved ninty and just had to add my two cents worth...

I'm not impressed. The name is even worse then the Wii. The controller looks annoying to use. The graphics are nice but not that much better then what we currently have with the 360, PS3 and gaming PCs.

I know that they want to target the hardcore market with this as well as the casual and have games like Assassins Creed but I'll believe that when I see it. The whole console just screams casual with everything from its name to its appearance. Even if they do manage to get out some hardcore games on it you know they're going to be lost in the flood of Mario games and sports games.

Besides those hardcore game aren't likely to be exclusive to the Wii U are they? I see no reason to buy a Wii U just so I can expereance Assassins Creed with a touch screen and some motion controles. If Nintendo wants me to buy their latest console then they'll have to start publishing some hardcore exclusive games.

Did anyone play Windwaker with the Gameboy Advance SP plugged into the Gamecube?

Although it was lacking in a few areas the idea and the extra game play and connectivity elements were absolutely awesome, it took the game just a small step up and you felt intergrated with the little GPS like system on the couch next to you.

And now this is a whole new level! In all the interviews I've seen the user of the controller has said that it is comfortable and light to hold.

I am very excited to see how developers utilise the new screen and motion tech as an add on to classic gameplay.

Hopefully most games will enable us to not need to go to a paused menu to view maps, stats, items and the such, it will all be right there in your fingers so to speak. This will be just the start.

Good work Nintendo, a massive jump forward.

P.S. Nintendo, I know gameplay isn't in the graphics, but if you were to release another console with old ass technology and clunky visuals, I would have salted my gamecube and Wii, put it in a fine soup and enjoyed its delicious vintage taste to spite you.